Maggie's Sleepover
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Summary: Nothing's ever simple when you're a Dresden, but it isn't necessarily all that hard. Maggie, Mouse and Twinkly Smart teach their friends how to deal with things that go bump in the night. In the same continuity as 'Dresden's Daughters'.


A/N: I find these two too cute for words...

Maggie and Mouse TOTALLY slayerized a monster once. It was a special sneaky monster that managed to get into an angel protected house. Thus, they are awesome.

This is in the same continuity as my 'Dresden's Daughters' series...

….

Maggie's Sleepover

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Disclaimer: The Dresden Files and all related non-public domain characters are the creation and property of Jim Butcher and is being used here in parody, which is protected speech.

….

Little ten-year-old Maggie was startled awake by Mouse's low, constant growl of warning even before Cindy shook her and said, in a frightened whisper, "Maggie, wake up. We need to get out of here."

To which Maggie intelligently replied, "Huh, whuh?"

Maggie, and by extension Mouse, had been in sleepovers before. They were fun, and she was allowed to stay up later than she usually was. They slept on the floor on sleeping bags, had pillow fights in which Mouse honorably stayed out of, ate ice-cream, and woke up late the next day. Maggie was able to play with her friends for longer than she usually got to, and got to sleep somewhere new, so it was all cool.

This sleepover, however, was the first one Maggie was bringing her new little sister along on. Well, technically she was sneaking her little sister along, little sisters generally not being allowed on sleepovers because they were a drag. The other girls had shrieked when they'd seen the wooden skull in her bag, and Cindy's mom had looked weirded out when she'd heard that Maggie's dad had carved it, but Maggie had solemnly explained it was a special magic skull that was supposed to protect daughters from bad things. Which it did. Maggie hadn't said which daughter after all, or what bad things.

Maggie was increasingly of the opinion her little sister was the best little sister ever. The only thing better would be if Mouse became her little sister, because Mouse was awesome, but then he wouldn't be Mouse anymore, and the world would just seemed strange since Mouse wasn't Mouse. Twinkly Smart– and she _was _ Twinkly Smart to Maggie, because the name was awesome no matter what her dad said!– hadn't slowed everyone down and yelled loudly like some other little sisters Maggie had met. Instead, she'd done what she'd called a 'ride-along', which was basically her riding along in Maggie's head. Maggie had done the hard work of running around, fighting savagely with her trusty pillow and eating lots of ice-cream, and Twinkly Smart had sat there and enjoyed it with her. It was nice to know they both liked ice-cream exactly the same amount.

Best. Sister. Ever!

When they'd watched the scary movie (Jurassic Park. Cindy's mom wouldn't let them get one of the REALLY scary ones with the ghosts and monsters and bad people) and everyone had been screaming and hugging Mouse (which showed Maggie had very smart friends, because of course the safest place to be when you saw a monster was next to Mouse), Twinkly Smart had laughed and during the boring parts had told Maggie a funny story about how dad had used a T-Rex to fight some bad people and their zombies once. Maggie had then ended up imagining her dad riding the T-Rex like a cowboy for the whole movie.

Maggie's daddy was awesome. Almost as awesome as Mouse!

That had been hours ago, and they'd finally progressed to the 'sleep' part of the sleepover. They slept in Cindy's room, though no one used the bed. Maggie liked Cindy because despite her having a borderline bimbo name (like 'Paris' or 'Miley' or 'Bella') she was really nice and smart and helped people with their homework, so Maggie considered her good people and promoted her above bimbo-hood accordingly.

Maggie sat up, confused, and keeping one hand one Mouse, who was growling. With her other hand, she picked up her sister's wooden skull and held it close. She glanced down at it briefly and saw a quick flash of green, which meant her sister was awake. Maggie didn't know how her sister did it. After all, her sister was made of twinkly, sparkly green light. Why did she need o sleep when she didn't have eyelids to close? "What is it?" Maggie managed to ask more clearly.

The other girls in the room were awake to, and crowding around Mouse. Jenny was crying, while Marie had her hands clasped together and was praying very, very fast. The only one not up against Mouse was Angelica, who'd grabbed Cindy's softball bat and was holding it in both hands.

Maggie looked around. The nightlight was off, and the room was dark except for the light from outside coming through the window, which wasn't very bright and made creepy shadow shapes. They were all backed up against the door where Mouse had settled in front of when they'd gone to sleep, and where Maggie had naturally put her own sleeping bag down. The room...

Maggie frowned. There was a _feeling _in the room, a thick, cloying feeling, like a very bad smell that made you want to take a bath. She recognized it.

"Maggie, make Mouse get up," Cindy was saying. "We need to get out of here! There's–"

"A monster under the bed," Maggie said seriously.

Angelica, who'd been facing the closet, whirled to stare at the bed away from it. "Under the bed too?" she said, trying to sound mean and tough like she normally did. Maggie hadn't liked Angelica when they'd first met. She thought she was mean and bossy and not nice. How could someone with 'angel' in their name not be nice? But even the really mean boys and bullies in school didn't mess with Angelica, who supposedly kicked so hard the guy behind you could feel it, which kept them away from the kids in their class most of the time. Her daddy, when she'd asked, had told her that the thing about angels wasn't that they were nice. The thing about angels was that they were _good_. They protected. Sometimes they didn't have time to be nice, even when they wanted to.

They'd managed to become friends, and now Maggie thought maybe Angelica really did live up to her name, facing both a monster under the bed _and _a monster in the closet with only a softball bat. When Maggie had first done it, at least she'd had Mouse.

Now, she not only had Mouse, she had the smartest little sister in the world too.

Cindy was trying to pull Mouse away from the door, but her efforts were hampered by the fact she kept looking over her shoulder at the closet, and now the bed. "Mouse, move! Maggie, make him move so we can open the door!"

"Stay back!" Angelica said, brandishing her bat. "Stay away!"

Maggie could see them now, the monsters. Boogeymen, that's what they were, though she heard Twinkly Smart saying in her head– her sister was awesome!– that they were called boggarts. They looked huge, like monster gorillas. The one under the bed wasn't to visible, but Maggie could make out dark shadows like huge hands the size of pillows just beneath the lip of the bed, and he suggestion of long arms just waiting to grab a little kid when they set their foot down. The one in the closet, which had swung open, revealing the dark space, seemed to fill the opening completely,

In her head, Maggie heard her sister saying that was a lie, just something the boogeymen were making them see to scare them. They were only the size of cats, her sister said, still ugly but not all that big. Maggie nodded, patting her sister's skull and remembering to say thank you later, when they were alone. Maggie stood up with some difficulty because of the other girls crowding her and put on her meanest face. Then, hand firmly on Mouse, she walked forward. Into the center of the room.

Angelica grabbed at her shoulder. "Maggie stay back! Don't get too close."

Maggie stopped, but only because Mouse had. He wasn't going to let her go closer. He growled at the monsters, a sound that Maggie could feel in her bones, like the really loud sound system she'd once stood near at the mall. The other girls let out cries, not knowing what it was. The monsters, Maggie's sister was saying, were watching Mouse, which told Maggie they weren't too dumb. Or they just recognized that Mouse was awesome. Because he was.

"You," Maggie said, pointing at the closet, and then under the bed. "And you. Go away. This isn't your house."

An awful moment later, there was the sound of evil laughter, which made the girls behind Maggie cry out and hammer at the door that no longer had Mouse in front of it. The door wouldn't open, even as Cindy frantically tried to undo the lock. It was definitely evil laughter. Good laughter made you want to laugh along, or at least find out what the joke was. This did neither, so it was definitely evil laughter.

Maggie drew herself up. What little fear she'd had disappeared. She didn't like being laughed at or made fun of. "I mean it! Go away and never come back! Or else!"

Then, in the slimiest, most evil voice in the world, one of the monsters said, "Or else_what_, little mortal?"

"Or else," Maggie said, "Me and Mouse slayerize you."

Mouse hadn't stopped growling through all this, but he growled louder as she finished. He really knew how to look cool!

The other monster made a noise that sounded very rude. "And why should we fear _you,_ little mortal?" He sounded like one of the boys who said she couldn't do something because she was a girl.

Calmly, Maggie reached over and gently took the bat from Angelica, who let her take it. Scared as she was, Angelica had recognized the tone too. With a brief sparkle of green light, her sister left her skull, traveled along Maggie's arm and into the bat, which twinkled a little. Maggie hefted the now more-or-less magic bat.

"Get 'em Mouse," she said, and Mouse launched himself at the monster under the bed, grabbing it and puling it out as Maggie began swinging at the one in the closet.

The other girls, of course, screamed.

When Cindy's parents finally woke up and got the door open, they found a bunch of frightened girls huddled around Mouse and Maggie checking the closet and drawers, poking at them with a bat.

"What's going on here?" Cindy's dad asked, looking annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night.

"Monster! " Jenny cried, holding Mouse tight. "Monster!"

Cindy's mom and dad both looked at Mouse, who did kinda look like a monster, but only if you weren't very smart.

"There was a monster under the bed and in the closet, Mr. West, Mrs. West," Maggie said helpfully. "But don't worry! Me and Mouse slayerized it." She waved her bat.

Cindy had let go of Mouse and had run to her parents, and soon the other girls followed. Mouse might be safer, but they needed a good cry, and Mouse was hard to cry on.

Maggie headed out the door and Mouse followed after her.

"Where are you going?" Cindy's mom asked, comforting her crying daughter.

"I'm going to check the rest of the house for monsters," Maggie said. "Me and Mouse will be right back."

They left, bat in hand.

Cindy's parents tried to calm the girls down. "What happened dear?" Cindy's mother asked gently. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Monsters," Cindy said, holding her mother tight. "Monsters in the closet and under the bed! We tried to leave, but the door wouldn't open. And then Maggie... she..."

"Maggie killed the monsters!" Angelica declared.

Cindy's dad sighed. "Were you kids playing? It's late. Why didn't you wait until–"

From the direction of Cindy's parents room, there was a monstrous roar that made everyone jump and the girls to grab onto Cindy's parents. It was soon followed by a growl that seemed to make their bones shake and a yell, followed by several bumping sounds, then silence.

Everyone stood still, Cindy's mom holding her as primal terror and half-buried childhood monsters came rushing at her.

A little while later, Maggie came back with Mouse at her side. The bat was dented, and there was some sort of slimy goo on it.

"You had a monster in your closet too," Maggie said matter-of-factly. "But none under the bed. Me and Mouse slayerized it for you."

Everyone stared at her.

She blinked. "What? Do I have monster bits on my face?"

….

**Epilogue**

….

"Maggie," Harry asked, bemused at the hand-lettered index card in his hands. "What's this?"

The index card read: _Mouse and Dresden, Monster Slayerizers. Monsters in beds and closets a specialty. No lost stuff, world saving or murder mysteries._

Maggie grinned up at him. "My card. Me, Mouse and Twinkly Smart are starting a business! Twinkly helped me write that so we could get customers."

….

A/N: Because Maggie and Mouse totally would. You know they will.

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


End file.
